590 GLACIAL FORMATIONS OF ERIE AND OHIO BASINS. 



gentle swells 10 feet or less in height, and shallow, saucer-like depressions. 

 Similar swells and basins characterize nearly the whole of the tract lying 

 between the morainic crest and the upper beach of Lake Maumee, about 

 6 to 8 miles to tlie north. 



Near the county line just referred to the crest becomes ill defined and 

 the moraine consists of a series of small, sharp knolls with abrupt slopes, 

 among which are numerous basins. These knolls and basins, small though 

 they are (seldom occupying an acre each), present all the characteristic 

 features of the knob-and-basin topography of a kettle moraine. The 

 knolls, however, rarely exceed 10 feet in height, whereas in the strongly 

 developed poi-tions of kettle moraines they rise abruptly, in some cases to 

 a height of 100 feet. This phase seems to mark the transition from the 

 land-laid to the water-laid portion, and is developed for a distance of only 

 10 or 12 miles. 



About 3 miles northwest of Leipsic the moraine is crossed by the upper 

 beach of Lake Maumee, and from there to the Maumee River and thence 

 northward nearly to Wauseon, Ohio, it presents a very smooth surface. 

 To the unaided eye this portion can not be readily distinguished from the 

 bordering plains. Indeed, there are few places within the region under 

 discussion where the drift sui-face is so nearly featureless. Yet this part of 

 the Defiance moraine has sufiicient relief to control drainage to a remarkable 

 degree and to cause the Belmore beach to extend out nearly to the Maumee 

 River, as indicated on PI. XXIV. This smoothness of the moraine is appar- 

 ently due to its having been laid down in water rather than to subsequent 

 wave action. The wave work shown in the beaches and cut banks of that 

 region is evidently inadequate to prodtice so marked a change as the 

 moraine presents in passing from the land-laid to the water-laid portion. 

 The studies carried on by Taylor in eastern Michigan and in the Province 

 of Ontario have brought to light several water-laid moraines, which, like 

 this portion of the Defiance moraine, are known to be present from their 

 connections with well-defined land-laid moraines and from their influence 

 upon drainage, but which are with difficulty detected by the eye. 



From the vicinity of Wauseon northward to the Michigan line there 

 is a tract similar to that near Leipsic which connects the land-laid and the 

 water-laid parts of the moraine, thoug'h it is more sandy. There are a few 



